Following My Star
by Pandora of Ithilien
Summary: Anyone wonder what happened to Jennifer Hailey from Prodigy & Proving Ground? I did, and from those idle musings, this was born. Starts before Prodigy and continues through her time at the SGC. Future chapters will contain spoilers.
1. Hidden Rival

Disclaimer: Nothing Stargate belongs to me. If it did, there would never have been regs, Pete, or Kerry, and Janet wouldn't be dead. That's got nothing to do with my story – well, not _this_ one, but I had to say it. But this story is for anyone else who liked Jennifer Hailey from 'Prodigy' and 'Proving Ground' and wants more about her. My two goals are to continue her Stargate story and to explain why being compared to Sam bothered her so much.

**_Chapter One – Unseen Rival: _** I lay on my bed, trying to calm down. At 18, I was more stressed than anyone ought to be. I was waiting for responses from the colleges I'd applied to, and if that wasn't enough worry for me, I only got a B on my social studies test and my mom was fuming. See, ever since my IQ test at 4 that said I had very high intelligence, Mom expected perfection in all I did. Even a 99 made her mad; she expected 100s. So she was disappointed a lot. My best classes were math and science, and I wanted to become an astrophysicist, but Mom always said my goals were too high for someone who could get a B. So I gave her the test because my teacher likes exams signed. She saw the grade and went ballistic. After suffering through her screams, I went to my room and locked the door. Laying down, I dreamed of college. There I could escape being driven to a standard I sometimes couldn't reach. I thought of my grandfather, the only one who'd ever really encouraged me. Mom only put me down and Dad walked out years ago, so when he died, I had no one to push me towards my dreams anymore. But despite that, I was determined to follow my star and become an Air Force astrophysicist. Of course, first I needed a recommendation for acceptance to the Academy.

Two months later, the good news came, two days after my high school graduation. I'd been accepted to the Air Force Academy in Colorado. When I told my mother, she lost it. She told me that women had no place in the military and that I'd regret this. I ignored her. Three weeks later, I got a one-way flight to Colorado Springs and the Academy. Mom threatened to disown me if I left, but I didn't care. She didn't do it – I think she just didn't want her hated brother to get anything she owned if I couldn't. It mattered very little to me. When I reached my destination, I was happier than I'd been in years. I could almost hear Gramps saying "You can do it, Jenny. I have faith in you. Now go show them all what you can do!" I meant to do that and more, but I had an unexpected roadblock. And this obstacle had a name: Samantha Carter.

My first few weeks in classes, there was no problem. Then one day, my Basic Physics instructor said to me, "You know, Cadet, you remind me of another student who came through here. Her name was Samantha Carter. Very bright, like you." That was just the beginning. Pretty soon most of the teachers were doing it. "You're just like Samantha Carter," or "If I didn't know better, I'd swear you were Cadet Carter," and even, "Well, Hailey, that was good, but I think Carter did better. Oh, well." I was furious. I just wanted to have a fair chance and all they did was compare me to this Carter person. It was so unfair. First Mom and now this.

Anyway, I decided to find out all I could about this unknown rival. So I looked her up. She had a spotless record, and was now a captain serving at the Pentagon. What irked me was her SAT scores, because mine were higher. Not much, but still. If I scored better than her, why was I in second place? What had I done to deserve that?

After my little investigation, I vowed to try even harder, to be perfect, like Mom always said I should be. Yet nothing changed. I was still 'the next Carter' to the instructors. I wanted to scream in their faces, "I'm Jennifer Hailey,_ not _Samantha Carter! Stop comparing me to her!" Of course, I never did it. But by the end of my second year, I was fed up. When third year started, I quit trying. Most of the projects were too easy, so I did something else and turned it in. My grades went into free fall, yet they still compared me to _her_, but only negatively. I was livid. I hated Samantha Carter with all I had. I hated the teachers too; they had put me into a competition with someone I'd never meet and could never match up to. I thought of the picture of Carter in the graduate files. She should have appeared so friendly in that photo, but to me she always seemed smug, arrogant because her achievements always overshadowed mine. I yearned to meet her, to tell her exactly what she'd done to me.

It was about mid-term when it happened. I was looking at the course schedule for Advanced Physics because my classmate and friend, Kelsey Mathers, had heard a rumor that we were having a guest speaker on Tuesday (it was a Sunday). I looked down the list and saw the name. Major Samantha Carter. So, I thought vaguely, she's a major now. Then my whole being filled with rage. I'd have to sit in class, hearing a woman I hated lecture on things I knew, all the while knowing nothing I could do would surpass her. Kels saw me sitting on the bench, trembling with rage, and hurried over to see what was wrong. I pointed to Carter's name and she gasped. Kelsey knew how I felt about Carter. "Wow, Jen. What are you going to do?" Ice went down my spine and cooled the fiery rage in my heart. My voice as icy as my feelings, I replied, "I'm going to confront her. I'm going to tell her how much I hate her and why. And I don't care if I get kicked out for it. I'm doing it anyway."


	2. Confrontations

Disclaimer: Not mine.

**_Chapter 2 – Confrontations: _**Tuesday came at last. It seemed to take forever. But I found myself in the class, gripping my binder tightly in order to keep calm. I listened to that _woman_ lecture, watched as she won over the entire class with witty remarks. At one point, Andrew Kirby, my other close friend, glanced at me as though to say, _What's_ _wrong with her? Seems nice enough to me_. He didn't get it, but then, no one really did. I'd stopped expecting them to.

It was then I noticed it. The mistake. At first I didn't believe it, but after looking closely, I knew it was there. Carter, the great Carter, had made a mistake. Better, she'd done it right in front of me. I was thrilled.

When the lecture ended, I went up to the board to be sure. Then I said it was wrong. Of course, Professor Monroe immediately said not to question Carter because she was a leader in the field of astrophysics. What he didn't say slapped me in the face. You're not as good as her and you never will be, so shut up. That was what he meant. Just like Mom. You're no good, you're worthless. She always used to say that. I turned on my heel and walked out.

About fifteen minutes later, I was in the lab when someone came up to me. It was Carter. She was friendly, asking ifI was getting extra lab time in, but then she mentioned the paper I'd done for Professor Monroe. She said it was _interesting_, just like the professor had, but that it hadn't been the assignment. I told her the assignment was lame, and her reply was, "It was still the assignment." I had had enough. How _dare_ she lecture me? So I said I was late for a class and walked out on her.

Later that day, I was helping a girl named Chloe Brown with her physical training whe n an upperclassman jerk named Kevin Grady started teasing her. I got mad and punched him. I broke his nose. Soon I was taken to the Dean, where I expected to be expelled. Once inside, I was shocked to see Carter. She asked the Dean if she could say something to me and he nodded. She demanded, "Who the hell do you think you are? Do you think you're better than us, that you're above the rules?" I shook my head and replied, "No, ma'am." Inside I screamed, You all think you're better than _me _! You all think I'm trash!

As it turned out, I wasn't expelled. Apparently Carter had intervened for me. I was grateful, but I still didn't like her. I left the Dean's office and walked down the hall, but was soon intercepted by Carter. She wanted to know what my problem was, so I told her. I told her about the constant comparisons between me and her. She asked, "So that's it? You just can't handle not automatically being the best?" She didn't get it, and I certainly wasn't going to explain.

She wanted to know if I knew what waited for me. She said I could have an amazing future if I carried on here. I replied that I didn't see this great future. She just said to trust her. How could I?

Later that day, I was told I was going with Carter to the base that she worked at. Apparently I was going to see deep space telemetry. How interesting. But, as it turned out, that was just a cover story. What I really saw was the most amazing thing I had ever seen.

A/N: Sorry I didn't update, but I had writer's block. Don't hate me.


End file.
